Expectations are certainly of epic proportions from the award winning team of Ashutosh Gowariker, A. R. Rahman and Javed Akhtar, who have delivered music of highest quality in films like LAGAAN, JODHAA AKBAR and not to forget the contemporary SWADES. MOHENJO DARO yet again, being a period romantic drama, prospects appear even brighter.

The lively title track 'Mohenjo Mohenjo' serves as a nice, interesting insight into the film, the beauty of the ancient Indus valley and its civilization and lifestyle. Lyrics are a reflective of the above, although Rahman's chosen tune is heard before. Arijit Singh does a fine job with composer himself joining in along with Bela Shinde and Sanah Moidutty.

Quite like what is river Ganges for Indians (who call it Ganga Ma), the river Sindhu (Hindi name for river Indus) was the lifeline of the ancient city of Mohenjodaro and the next song is aptly titled 'Sindhu Ma', which is a sort of an ode to the river where the leads plead with the river to carry on flowing. Rahman and Sanah Moidutty render the number flawlessly.

Yet another Rahman love ditty, 'Tu Hai', is blissfully romantic and charms with its soft flowing melody and simple heart pleasing tune. Sanah Moidutty does a wonderful job and Rahman too renders the number with emotions.

The next four numbers are more or less instrumental with tribal/folk music and undecipherable tribal language and which should appear as a background score. 'Whispers of the Mind' and 'Whispers of the Heart' are both soft, soothing instrumentals with Arjun Chandy chanting some whispering notes.

'The Shimmer Of Sindhu' is a grand musical piece and carries contemporary sounds comprising of some superb guitaring ( Keba Jeremiah) as well as breathtaking flute notes (Kareem Kamalakar).

'Lakh Lakh Thora' is yet again a pure instrumental with lovely use of ethnic strings (Tapas Roy) and flute.

To conclude, the audio of MOHENJO DARO does meet our expectations, though not fully as the mass plus class appeal (universal!) of LAGAAN (to an extent even SWADES!) and JODHAA AKBAR is missing. Our picks- 'Tu Hai' and 'Sasariya'. But what we must not forget is that Rahman has always managed to surprise and one is sure (and optimistic) that the purely situational tracks may appeal in a big way after the release of the film, next month.